Social Innovations in Early Childhood Intervention

ABOUT THE ORGANISATION:

Lumos Foundation

Lumos Foundation is an international non-governmen-

tal charity organization and is registered in England

and Wales.

Lumos is dedicated to helping to transform the lives

of those disadvantaged children who live in institu-

tions and so-called orphanages around the world.

Lumos uses the phrase “so-called” because the vast

majority of children are not orphans but are in insti-

tutions because their parents face extreme poverty;

because the children have physical and intellectual

disabilities, and their parents cannot afford treatment;

or because they are from socially excluded groups.

When parents are not supported in the community,

these factors often lead to the break-up of families.

Lumos and several other organizations have worked

to encourage the European Commission to establish

regulations that state that funding to EU member

states must be used for community services, not to

build or renovate residential institutions. This regula-

tion has been in place since 2014.

At the moment Lumos has teams in Bulgaria, Czech

Republic, Moldova and Haiti with projects in Greece,

Serbia and elsewhere. It has also opened a US office

and is setting up a presence in the Latin America

and Caribbean region. As part of its global focus on

children in orphanages, it has also opened a US office

and is currently scoping work in Latin America and

the Caribbean.

Lumos

Moldova

Ms. Irina Malanciuc, Director Lumos Moldova

Tel: +373 22 232 632; Mob: +373 69 99 22 55

E-mail:

Irina.Malanciuc@wearelumos.org www.wearelumos.org

LEGAL SITUATION OF CHILDREN IN INSTITUTIONS:

Situations that lead to the

separation of children and families

According to national legislation (Law 140 of

14.06.2013 on Special Protection of Children

at Risk and Children Separated from their

Parents), children are separated from families

and placed within alternative services in the

following situations:

• Children who are subject to violence

• Children who are neglected

• Children who are involved in vagrancy,

begging, prostitution

• Children who are deprived of parental care

and supervision due to their absence from

home due to unknown reasons

• Children whose parents have died

• Children who live on the streets, or es-

caped or were chased from their homes

• Children whose parents refuse to perform

their parental duties in bringing up and

taking care of their children

• Children who were abandoned by parents

• Children whose parents were declared

incompetent by a court judgment

Child placement within services (family-type

or residential) is based on local or territorial

guardianship authority provisions. In cases

where there is an immediate danger to the

child’s life or health, the local guardianship au-

thority in whose jurisdiction the child is placed

shall issue an ordinance on child separation

from parents or caregivers. In cases when

parents have gone abroad for work, the local

guardianship authority shall issue, with the

consent of the parents, the order to establish

a guardianship/trusteeship in line with the

legal provisions.

ABOUT ZERO PROJECT ANAYLSIS

In-depth Research of Innovative Practices

EASPD Secretary General: Luk Zelderloo

Essl Foundation Programme Manager: Michael Fembek

Author: Wilfried Kainz

Project coordinator: Sabrina Ferraina

Graphic Design: Christoph Almasy

Graphic Facilitation: Petra Plicka

Editing: John Tessitore

This in-depth analysis can be downloaded for free at

www.zeroproject.org

and

www.easpd.eu

For information or copies, contact:

office@zeroproject.org

Essl Foundation, Aufeldgasse 17-23, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria